Knitted or netted fabric.



No. 648,58l. Patented May I, I900.

G. BENGER.

KNITTED 0R NETTED FABRIC.

(Application filed Dec. 5, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

"n Mm 4 Patented May I, I900.

G. BENGER.

KNITTED 0R NETTED FABRlC.

(Application filed Dec. 5, 1899.)

2 Sheets Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

GOTTLIEB BENGER, OF STUTTGART, GERMANY.

KNITTED R NETTED FABRIC.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 648,581, dated May 1,1900.

Original application filed November 28, 1898, Serial No. 697,615.Divided and this application filed December 5, 1899. Serial No. 739,264.(No specimens-l T0 aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GOTTLIEB BENGER, a. citizen'ofthe Empire of Germany,residing at Stuttgart, Germany, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Knitted or make and use the same. I

'My invention relates to "knitted or netted fabrics.

The object of my present invention is to provide a fabric of thischaracter which will not shrink materially on washing, which will notbecome felted in use, and at the same time will be free from a tendencyto warp or become distorted or out of shape.

The knitted or netted fabrics andunderclothing as manufactured hitherto,more particularly those made of wool, have. in addition to a number ofadvantageous properties the great disadvantage that when being worn andwashed they shrink greatly and in time become felted. It has beenattempted to overcome these disadvantages by using stronglytwis'tedyarns; but by doing so a fabric was produced which was unfit for use orat least objectionable on account of the fact that it soon became warpedand twisted out of shape,

particularly after washing. This so-called warping (getting out ofshape) of the hitherto-known manufacture results from the fact that theyarn or thread hitherto used was all twisted in one direction and thatthis onesided twist of the yarn or of the thread exercises a one-sidedstrain on the meshes or stitches of the ready-made fabric, thus causinga distortion of each stitch, whereby the stitches all assume a slope inone general direction, which direction depends upon the direction of thetwist of the yarn or thread employed. It is obvious that the strongerthe one-sided twist of the thread or threads the greater will be theunsymmetrical strain on and consequent warping of the fabric. For thesereasons only softly-twisted yarns have been hitherto employed in actualpractice for knitted and netted goods-z. 6., socalled hosiery-yarnswithwhich the felt ing and the great shrinking during wear and washing hasto be accepted as inevitable. The present invention renders possible theuse of strongly-twisted yarns without affecting the elasticity or theproduction of a straight-running fabric and with the advantage thatshrinking or felting of the fabric when being washed and worn isconsiderably reduced.

My invention,-which thus accomplishes the objects hereinabove stated,consists, first, in a knitted or netted fabric or garment consist ing ofone or more rows of meshes'orstitches made from yarn or thread twistedin one direction alternating with one or more rows of meshes or stitchesmade of yarn or thread twisted in the opposite direction in combinationwith interposed rows of meshes or stitches made of neutral thread oryarn, or, more specifically, second, in such a fabric or garment inwhich one or more rows of meshes or stitches made from yarn or threadtwisted in one direction are followed by a row or rows of meshes orstitches made of neutral yarn or thread, these being in turn followedbya row or rows ofmeshes or stitches of yarn or thread twistedoppositely to. the yarn or thread of the first row or-rows of meshes,and so on, the same order of meshes being continually repeatedthroughout the fabric.

I will now describe my invention more in detail by describing what Iconsider the best embodiment of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings for this purpose.

In the drawings, Figure l'is an enlarged view representing a portion ofa raw unwashed fabric as it came from the circular head, manufactured ofsoftly-twisted yarn or thread, so-called hosiery-yarn, as hithertopracticed. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same fabric, showing thewarped or distorted condition assumed by the meshes of the same, in manycases even for lightly-twisted yarns, but always and in a marked degreewhere yarns or threads strongly twisted in but one direction areemployed. Fig. 3 shows, diagrammatically, an enlarged view of a portionof a fabric embodying one preferred form of arrangement of the meshesunder my invention; Fig. 4, a similar view of a somewhatmodifiedarrangement; Figs. 5 and 6,enlarged views of a number of interlockingmeshes under the arrangement shown in Fig. 3, and Figs. 7 and 8 similarviews under the arrangement shown in Fig. 4..

It will be noted that in the old mode of manufacture, as shown in Fig.1, the meshes, loops, or stitches a of the fabric, when it is first madeand before it is washed, are without any slope-that is to say, havetheir axes at right angles to the direction of the material. After'thefabric has been washed, however, and more particularly after the use ofthe ready-made garments, the crimping tendency of the loosely-twistedwoolen fibers, together with the one-side twisting of the yarn orthread, causes the stitches to 'assumethe sloping direction as shown inFig. 2.

In all knitted or netted fabrics hitherto known the meshes or stitcheswere constructed from one continuous single or multiple thread (madefrom yarns twisted in thesame direction) which is carriedthroughout thefabric.

are employed for the first time, whereby I am enabled for the first timeto use stronglytwisted yarns without incurring" the danger of warping ordistortion while reducing the shrinkage and felting to a minimum. Fig.3, for instance, shows an enlarged diagrammatic view and Figs.-5 and 6enlarged detail views of a portion of fabric as manufacturedi'n ac-..cordance with my invention a-ndcomposed of three horizontal rows ofmeshesa c b, the

I first andthe third of which, a, and b, are, made of oppositely twistedyarns or threadslin such I f the lefthand-twisted yarn or thread b one ethroughout thefabric;

connected withthe row of left-hand-twisted thread on each side by a rowof neutral thread, as shown in Fig. 3. Y

a way that between the row-a of the right hand-twisted yarn or threadand the row of neutral row of meshes c is inserted, and 'so on row ofright-hand-twisted yarn or thre'adis The neutral row or rows of meshesinserted between a row or a number of rows of meshes made alternately ofright and left hand twisted yarn or thread, as above described, may beformed, first, of a lightly-twisted yarn or thread, so-callc'd,hosiery-yarn, as indicated in Fig. 5, or, second, in case ofmultiple-thread fabrics instead of yarn or thread of neutral twistoppositely-twisted yarnsor thread 0 c may be used to form theinterspersed neutral row or rows of meshes in such a manner that theleft-hand twist and the right-hand twist are equalized in each stitch ormesh, thusneutralizing strain and counterstrain in. each'stitchor mesh.vThis arrangement is in-f dicated in Fig; 6.

In Figs. 4, 7, and 8 I have shown another manner of carrying out myinvention. Under this form a numbere. 9., two--of rowsef In other words,each 7 in a direction opposite to that of the first number of rows,these rows being again followed by a neutral row,- &c., throughout thefabric. Here, again, in the form shown in Fig. 7, the neutral yarn 0 mayconsist of a single lightlytwisted yarn or. it may be arranged as inFig. 8that is to say, composed of aright and aleft hand twisted yarn c 0or a right and a left hand twisted set of yarns.

Owing to the strain acting on opposite sides in the alternating rows ofmeshes or stitches, which are made of oppositely-twisted yarns orthreads, after the washing the latter assume an opposeiposition to'oneanother and an inclined position to the inserted neutral row ofmeshes-thatis to say, a zigzag-shaped diagram of mesh or stitch isproduced, only meshes of course may change in every suitable proportionand succession, such asthe The fabric may be made with any suitablenumber of consecutive rows of meshes of occasion or the requirements-maydemand.

right-hand-twisted yarn or thread followed by a suitable number ofconsecutive ro'wsof.

meshes of left-hand-twisted yarn or'thread,

nentralrows being inseitedkjat .intervalsifonly in all" these instancesthe -am ount of the rows of meshes throughout the fabric. '1

. 1 5 right and lefthand twist is equalized belfivee'nv do not,therefore, desire to be confined to the precise forms shown inillustration of my in vention, which, broadly considered, consists in aseries of rows of meshes of thread twisted in one direction incombination with a series IE 'distributed suitably throughout thefabric.

This fabric is even more elastic-in all direc tions and alsolongitudinally than that for:

merl y made. This'is' evide'iiced bythe fact that when the fabric ispulled longitudinally the opposite inclined meshes 01' stitches thereofstraighten out, and as soon as the strain of the pull is released thesaid meshes or stitches i of the fabric or of the garment madetherefrom-by the counteracting strain of the yarn ,or threads twisted inopposite directions in such a-manner that the amdunt of the lefthandtwist of one row or of a. number of rows of meshesis counterbalanced bythe same amount of right-hand twist in the following row or rows ofmeshes, and so on throughout fabric.

the garment. Different strength of twist in opposite directions may beemployed with ing, because the soft twist of the yarn or thread promotesthe tendency of the woolen fibers for crimping and because there are oreloose fibers in a soft-twisted yarn or bread to catch together andbecome matted across the meshes, whereby the garment loses itselasticity and porosity, and hence is less advantageous forunderclothing. By using strongly-twisted yarns or thread, however, thereis considerably less tendency of the fabric or of the garment madetherefrom felting and shrinking, because the strongly-twisted yarn orthread has more stability and an increased durability and less loosefibers, thus diminishing and nearly avoiding the felting, andconsequently also the shrinkage. A further circumstance that counteractsthe felting qualities of the wool is the fact that theoppositely-twisted yarns o r threads take .an

opposite position to one another, thus pres venting the fibers fromcatching together,- while, on the-contrary, the elongated closed shapeof the meshes of the old web, as shown in Fig. l, promotes andfacilitates the felting, and consequently, also, theshrinking, of the Inmy aforesaid application, S'eriatNo. 697,615, filed November 28, 1898, Ihave described the matter herein set forth, together with other thingsin illustration of the gen' eric invention there claimed, but have notthere claimed the same specifically, since this is the purpose of thepresent application.

In the following claims the word fabric is of course understood toembrace fabrics Whether in the form of or made up into garments, such asunderwear, or in an unmadeup condition. r

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is-- 1. In a knitted or netted fabric, a number of rows ofmeshes made from yarn or thread twisted in one direction in combinationwith a number of rows'of meshes made from yarn or thread twisted in anopposite direction, and a number of rows of meshes made from neutralyarn or threadIthe three sets of vrows being suitablydistrihutedthroughout thefabric, substantially as set forth.

2. In a knitted or netted fabric, a row of meshes made from yarn orthread twisted in one direction, and a row of meshes made from yarn orthread in an opposite direction in combination with a row of meshes madefrom neutral yarn or thread and interposed between and connecting thesaid rows of oppositely-twisted yarn or thread.

3. In a knitted or netted fabric, rows of meshes of yarn or threadtwisted in one diyaril or thread twisted in an opposite direction andcombined with rows of meshes of neutral yarn or thread arranged betweenthe rows of meshes of oppositely-twisted thread. In testimony whereof Iaifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GOTTLIEB BENGER. \Vitnesses:

A. DRAUTZ, H. WAGNER.

.rrection alternating with rows of meshesof

